Sunday, June 30, 2013

Frack baby, frack!

A dilemma.

What do you do when the country is facing a potential energy crisis that could lead to power cuts in the next few years?

Do you:

a) Hope it just won't happen?

b) Tell everyone they must get prepared to operate without electricity despite so many appliances and other equipment relying on it? Fancy being the one to raise people's food bills even higher by making it impossible to rely on refrigeration to make food last? Or the one to tell people they can't get to work to earn money because there's no electricity to run the trains?

c) Increase our dependency on energy supplies from some dubious regimes in potentially unstable parts of the world?

d) Invest more in renewable energy that doesn't yet have the reliability and output to ensure it can meet all our needs?

e) Tap what is potentially the largest supply of shale gas in the world that's sitting on the country's doorstep and which can be safely extracted and which will reduce carbon emissions?

We need a diverse set of energy supplies to cover our needs and we have to plan for the short and the long run. We have a resource that has already done wonders for other countries' energy needs and economies. It's time to step forward and make use of it.